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HeapAnalyzer version 1.4.2, a graphical tool for discovery of Java heap leaks, is an update that fixes defects in the Java profiler parser. Through use of a heuristic search engine and analysis of heap dumps, it can reduce the amount of time spent on digging through code in search of leaks in Java applications on Unix and Windows.

Java heap areas define objects, arrays, and classes. When the Garbage Collector allocates areas of storage in the heap, an object continues to be live while a reference to it exists somewhere in the active state of the JVM; therefore the object is reachable. When an object ceases to be referenced from the active state, it becomes garbage and can be reclaimed for reuse. When this reclamation occurs, the Garbage Collector must process a possible finalizer and also ensure that any internal JVM resources that are associated with the object are returned to the pool of such resources. Java heap dumps are snap shots of Java heaps at specific times.

Just for Info: This tool is only for IBM JDKs.
It does an offline analysis, so it has no impact on the running application. The heap dump is usually written either by calling a kill -3 or by a crash because of an OutOfMemoryError.
For Sun JDKs since 1.4.2_12 and 1.5.0_06 there is a quite similar possiblity for heap dumps: -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError and for parsing this you can use either the HAT utitlity (included with JDK 1.5 and above) or the YourKIT Profiler (commercial). Unlike with IBM JDKs this Heap Dump can be requested, it is only written on an OOM.
regards,
Ingo

It does an offline analysis, so it has no impact on the running application. The heap dump is usually written either by calling a kill -3 or by a crash because of an OutOfMemoryError.

For Sun JDKs since 1.4.2_12 and 1.5.0_06 there is a quite similar possiblity for heap dumps: -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError and for parsing this you can use either the HAT utitlity (included with JDK 1.5 and above) or the YourKIT Profiler (commercial). Unlike with IBM JDKs this Heap Dump can be requested, it is only written on an OOM.

regards,

Ingo

This is not completely correct. You can trigger a heap dump on request.
See my blog
Regards,
Markus

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